Out of the Darkness...
by Serena Rose
Summary: The Kingdoms of Moon and Sky have seen peace since the evil was destroyed 16 years ago. But on the eve of the 17th, terror strikes!...The Dark One is back. It is up to the twins fo the 1st victors and their 2 new allies to destroy somthing thought dead...
1. Prologue

Howdy readers! ~ This story is the sequel to my other story "Beyond One" which used to be called "Beyond All" but changed when it got deleted and I had to re-upload it. It might help to read that story first just so that you understand this one better. But it may not be necessary because I tried to write this story so that you didn't have to go back and read the prequel. But if you want to read it, be my guest. Also, there are some terms in here that you may not quite understand. If you are totally confused, have no fear! Just email me at blackrosefallen@hotmail.com and I will gladly explain anything you want. Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to read my endless babbling and undetailed ramblings. ~ Serena Rose  
  
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Prologue  
  
  
  
In the star spangled night sky that lay not far above the small planet of Amitie in a solar system far away, lived the young goddess Gaea. Only 17 years old that month, she was short and well muscled form her years of work on her home planet in her younger years. Her sun light blond curly hair was kept half up in a large bun at the back of her head and held in place by circles of tiny star shaped diamonds. A similar circlet sat above her brow making her as the Princess of Amitie. She no longer existed in the flesh, but only in the mind. She was solid however in her own world of the sky. She was made of a misty silver substance that the 5 Elemental Spirits of the Light had made her, her husband and their bonded animals out of after they gave their lives to free the universe from the 6th Element: The Dark One, who lusted after death, destruction and power.  
  
Over 8 months pregnant with her first child, Gaea was sitting under the only tree in her new home, and old oak. It was the first thing she saw after her mother's spirit had bid her a final fare well to go to the lands of Harmony, and the first thing that had brought stability in her new life. She gazed at the world below her that she had brought to life almost a year ago now. A tear trickled down her face at the beautiful green and blue that sparkled below. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see her husband, Degen. He was tall and very hard muscled. He had hair and eye's the same color of his wife's and his bonded, Solanara the raven, was the same white and silver that Athena, Othi's bonded tiger was.  
  
She smiled and patted the ground next to her. He sat down at her bidding and gave her a passionate kiss on the lips. He gave her a hug and laid his hand on her swollen belly that held their child, then looked at her expectantly. She just smiled and sighed.  
  
:Only a few more weeks before she'll be born into the world of the living. I can feel her restlessness growing.: Gaea said looking back at Amitie where her child would be born and raised by Princess Rini of the Moon and Earth, Gaea's blood-bonded friend. She looked back at Degen to find him staring at her with a concern beyond that of her state of being. She gave him a open mouthed kiss and felt him arms wrap around her and hold her tight as if to say that he would be there for her and their daughter always and forever.  
  
:I believe you. Last night while you slept, and I held you tight in my arms, I listened to you breath, she kicked my hand. It took all the will power that I owned at the time to keep me from leaping out of bead form the shock of the thing, she's a strong little hellcat isn't she?: He asked watching his wife's amused look and saw that she was holding in the urge to laugh aloud.  
  
:Yes, she is. I would know, I'm the one that she's kicking the innards out of you know.: She laughed, finally giving in. He smiled and squeezed her hand. He was about to crack a joke when they both felt another mind in their land. This wasn't an uncommon occurrence since many beings, no all human, wanted to talk to the one's who had saved the universe to get advice and stuff like that. But this presence was a familiar one, one that Gaea knew well and that Degen had come to know just as well.  
  
:Rini! How are you?: Gaea called out, turning just a little so that she could see the shadowy figure walking towards them. Her body of mist solidified into her mental image as she walked quickly over to sit with them and give hugs all around. She smiled hugely and patted Gaea's stomach as they laughed and talked to themselves, not including Degen in their mind- spoken conversation. That was the way to communicate in their world, the only way, by mindspeech. Over the months that they has dwelled in the world of stars and mist that the Elements had given them as repayment for what they had done in the name of the Light, he had come to be used to only speaking mind-to-mind. At first it was frustrating to open his mouth to speak only to find that no words came out when his lips moved. But at least he had his beloved life-bonded wife, their mentally and physically bonded animal protectors and their lives together.  
  
:Degen, I need your advice on matters of war.: Rini said. Her mindvoice was very like Gaea's, songlike and soothing. He could tell that when she was younger, she had had a cute small voice that had been slightly whiny. He turned his attention to her because he loved discussing war matters, especially when the person that her was discussing them with understood what he was talking about.  
  
:I'm all ears.: Degen said, hearing Gaea's sardonic comment to Rini about how she bet he was. She hated when he bragged about all his war experience. Rini suppressed a smile and nod then continued.  
  
:Well, if we have 1,000 foot soldiers and 5,000 mounted fighters along with 500 spears men where do I place the foot soldiers if we were going to be all sides? I don't want to split them up so that they are to thinly spread out and are useless to the mounted fighters.: Rini looked very interested and had a twinkle f revenge in her eyes. {So,} Degen thought. {Darien's been challenging her again has he? I thought he gave up after she beat him 13 times in a row.} He smiled and gave her a look that meant that he understood why she was doing this.  
  
:Well, I would place them I the center of the mounted and the provision carts with their spearsmen inside that. That way, your footers aren't spread out to a thin useless line, and your food and such are safely guarded by three different protections. Your mounted riders can fend themselves against the first attack.: Degen smiled as her saw her running this through her mental battle field and storing it away to use it against her father in their next mock battle. She would beat him and win a new riding horse he supposed. {And I get the satisfaction of knowing that he was beaten by his daughter. He knows that I am giving her advice, I just hope that he never asks to play me here, I would abolish his armies and feel bad.} She nodded in satisfaction. Then turned to talk to Gaea some more before she left again. She had been coming more often lately, mostly because it was easier for her now that her training in her gift had been completed. She would be here when their daughter was born to take her into the world of life and light. Their tiny baby could not survive here in their world in the sky, she would die and rest with her grandmother in the Lands of Harmony. So as soon as her umbilical cord was cut Rini would link minds with her and bring her back with her to raise her as her own.  
  
Finally she made her good byes and left them alone in their life of watching and waiting. They watched everyday and night for sign's of Dark doing. They had been warned that it would comeback with vengeance to destroy all that served the light, and turn the universe to the Dark. So far nothing had shown up, but Degen had a feeling that the birth of their innocent daughter would tip the delicate balance of good and evil. He felt helpless as all he could do was watch and wait, wait for the evil that they had worked so hard to demolish to comeback to mock the flesh that they no longer wore. 


	2. The Birth

Chapter 1  
  
~The Birth~  
  
  
  
Gaea awoke in the darkness of her bedroom in a cold sweat. She rubbed her hands on her face to dry her self off and found that she really was seating. {What the…?} She thought, than she looked at her hands and found they looked more solid than normal, they looked almost like real flesh. Oh Gods! She got up and threw on her nightdress and woke Degen. All it took was one look at her to know what was going on and her was up and dresses before she realized what was happening. {Oh crap, it's time.} She thought as a contraction hit her and she almost doubled over from the pain. Degen grabbed her set her back down on the bed and propped her up with pillows. Then quickly backed up to give her room to breathe through the contractions which were coming faster and faster.  
  
:Get Rini!: Gaea said between breaths. When she got no verbal response she looked over at Degen and found him just standing there staring at her. But he was shaking from head to foot like a chiwawa in the polar caps of Amitie.  
  
:Get Rini!: Gaea screamed this time. He shook his head as if he were waking up out of a nightmare them her disappeared from their world.  
  
Rini was wondering through the warm darkness of her sleeping mind when she saw a silver misty figure running toward her. She stopped walking to stare. As the being grew closer there was no mistaking who it was once she saw the mist waver and fade around the edges: Degen. She needed no further prompting to run to greet him. She took his hand and they started toward the Starry Road, which materialized in front of them in a cloud of night sky. The gate to sky world wavered then solidified and she saw the stardust path as they stepped on to it. They ran down the path some ways before Rini stopped and turned to Degen.  
  
:Degen, go get the basin of hot water and the pile of rags that are sitting by the fire in my bedchamber. Hurry!: He nodded and disappeared. {I hope that I will be able to come and go between our two worlds as freely as they do. It would save so much time!} She turned off the path and headed to the house that the 5 Spirits of the Elements had built for them in their new world. As she ran in threw the front door and down the hall she was wondering how long Degen had been gone and how fate her contractions were coming now. She opened up her mind to her blood-bonded friend and felt the pain, she shielded away from it enough so that it wasn't strong enough to make her cry out as it was Gaea, but it was strong enough to feel and time. {8 seconds apart. Damn.} She slowed to a fast walk because if she was out of breath she wouldn't be of any good to Gaea.  
  
:It hurts!: Was the first thing she heard when she walked into the bedroom. She shook her head and walked over to the bedside and took Gaea's hand, which was completely flesh and blood as was the rest of her.  
  
:I know it does sweet one, hold out for a little while longer. Your child should be born soon.: she almost gasped as Gaea had another contraction and squeezed her hand so hard that it would have broken if she were really just a princess, but she wasn't. She was the head of the military and border defenses for the Moon Kingdom and Earth, therefore well muscled and in top shape. She was also Sailor Mini Moon, part of the Senshi Princesses that protected the Universe.  
  
:It is going to be a daughter. That much I am sure of. But there is something else. I don't know what it issssss!: Another contraction lengthened her last word. At that moment Degen returned from the world of flesh carrying the basin of hot water and pile of rags. Rini got up and took them from him after the pain had passed enough for Gaea to let go of her hand. (Of course it took some prompting and coaxing to get her to release her from her death grip.) She took the materials from Degen and instructed him to Gaea's side to hold her hand. He got her into this and by the Light, he was going to sit through it with her. Rini set to work. She had gotten lessons from the palace mid-wife on the birthing of babies so that she would know what to do when this time came. She rolled up one of the rags and gave it to Gaea.  
  
:Bite this when the pain comes, so that you don't bit off your tongue. You now have one that you can bit off you know.: She nodded and took it on her mouth. And looked at her husband with such love and devotion that it made Rini want to puke. {I hope that I never become like that, I'll feel sorry for everyone around me!} She thought and set to work.  
  
It was a short while later that, with great difficulty and yelling, Gaea gave birth to a healthy daughter. Rini cut the umbilical cord and was washing the baby girl off when Gaea screamed. Rini thought that it was the after birth coming and handed the crying baby to her father who took her in delicate, protecting arms. She bent down to see that it wasn't the after birth at all, there was a head crowning instead. Rini swore with all the vile oaths that she knew and set back to work. The second birth was easy enough and their surprise second child came without Gaea yelling. As soon as she was washed and wrapped in a blanket, Rini set their baby, a son, down on his mother's warm, sweaty chest next to his twin sister.  
  
:Twins! Oh you are favored by the Elementals. What are you going to call them?: Rini said and Degen gave her and exasperated look of hopelessness then turned to his wife and waited for her to decide. Rini could tell that Degen and Gaea were talking together, she could hear their voices mumbling in the back of her mind, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. Rini smiled the wide grin of triumph.  
  
:Our daughter's name is Persephone and out son's name is Benjamin.: All three smiled at each other. Then Rini went back to cleaning up.  
  
It didn't take long for her to clean up and by the time she was done, the 2 newborns were fast asleep. She tosses the rags out the window to fall to Amitie below where they would be washed and used for something else by the inhabitants down there. The basin however, she washed out and padded with the few remaining clean rags to carry to twins in on her journey back to the physical. When she looked over at Gaea she was almost all the way back to her misty self. {Almost dawn. We've got to go.} She walked over and looked at Gaea with a sad face. She understood and handed over her children trustingly with a kiss for each of them. Rini smiled and started to walk out when she heard footsteps behind her. Degen put a brotherly hand on her shoulder.  
  
:I'll walk you out.: Rini nodded understanding the eagerness in his voice. When they reached to door, she stopped before opening it so that he could speak to her.  
  
:Will she be all right?: He asked with so much concern that she winced.  
  
:Yes, with time she will. Where are Athena and Solanara? I think that they will know how to keep both of your spirits up better than I.: She said looking around. Their bonded animals usually came running to help their bonded masters, but she hadn't even felt their presence the whole time she had been here.  
  
:They are on Amitie solving problems. Normally Gaea and I would go, but given her state of being, I sent them in our place. The residence down there know that they are our seconds in command and judgement. They will accept them as they would us.: He had so much confidence that she almost shook her head.  
  
:Ok, but you might want to call them back soon, you may need them, I know that Gaea will. You may visit only when I fetch or if you come to me first and only when they are asleep. Their minds are fragile and they mustn't be exposed to you frequently or for long periods of time until hey are older. Carra told me so, and she is not one to be messed with. I am sure that she will be visiting you very soon and giving you all the details as to all this. But I must leave. Take care. I love you guys.: Rini said and walked out the door that she had opened while she was talking to end the conversation with out hassle or further questions. As she made her way back out to the Starry Path, she linked her mind with the twins in order to make sure that she didn't lose one or both of them during the journey to the physical world where she would raise them. She fought with the changing currents of solar winds to get back to her sleeping body. Finally she felt the warm, familiar darkness wrap around her and the twins. She made it back and now was the time to sleep.  
  
Rini awoke some time after dawn, but before the servants came to bring her breakfast. She looked into her arms to find to sleeping bundles. She smiled to herself as she watched their tiny chests rise and fall with each breath they took. :We made it.: She said, hoping that either Gaea or Degen was listening. She felt someone smile at her reassurance. She sat back in her pillows and watched birds fly by her window out in the garden outside her room. She smiled and waited for the servants to come or for one to the twins to wakeup. Which ever came first. {They're safe.} 


	3. Sunrise Surprise

Chapter 2  
  
~Sunrise Surprise~  
  
  
  
Rini had lain awake for sometime holding the sleeping newborns in her arms, watching the sunrise. Various birds flew past her window singing their happy, welcoming morning tunes. When her main servant came in to lay out breakfast, she looked over at the bed and smiled at the sight. She had been told what was going to happen, along with the rest of palace and kingdom officials, to keep gossip to a minimal.  
  
"So, our sky maiden has given birth to twins, eh? Lucky woman. Here, what be they?" Angiline was from the United States on Earth. She had been brought to the Moon Court 7 years ago after saving one of their envoys after his transport crashed in her field in Louisiana. She was a mother of 4 in her mid-30's, 2 boys and 2 girls. She walked over and gently puled back the blankets from their faces and looked at their small pink faces.  
  
"A girl, Persephone and a boy, Benjamin." Angiline smiled and stood up to look Rini full I the face, still smiling.  
  
"Gaea is a strong woman and she has two strong children. They'll be healthy all right. No worries my Princess, they'll live and grow to be just like their parents, all 3 of you." She reached down and took both Persephone and Benjamin so that Rini could get up and dressed to eat her breakfast. As soon as she was dressed Ben woke up and stared up at her with a curiosity that burned like a fire. Angiline laughed looking at him.  
  
"Oh, we're going to have to watch this one Princess, he's going to be a mischief maker. A lord of havoc!" She laughed and Ben kept on staring at her, then began to cry. This woke up his sister who looked at him and cried too.  
  
"Oh, here now little ones, it'll just be a moment before the Princess is finished eating her…"  
  
"I'm finished now." Rini said waking over and taking Ben, cradling him in her arms and whispering softly to him and humming little tunes. {She sounds like a mother bird.} Angiline thought, turning to Persephone and calming her the way that Rini was.  
  
It didn't take long to calm them and get them sucking on bottles of fresh, warm dairy milk. After they had finished, Angiline left them in Rini's care and went on with her other chores. Rini sat in a padded chair by the window for a while before she got restless and decided to visit her mother and father. She placed the twins in a carrier that she and Angiline had made a while before. Ben went in a pocket across her back and Persephone in pocket across her chest. They squirmed for the first part of the walk to the Great Hall, where her parents would be finishing their breakfasts and chatting with various officials. Halfway there she heard their little snores and felt their slow breaths of slumber. She smiled and walked past the first set of guards that were place down the hall that led to the big dome roofed room that held the dining tables and thrones that weren't used. When she entered the hall, all the common servants curtsied or bowed to her and officials and envoys bowed their heads as they remained seated. She made her way to her mother's side and curtsied, hearing the whispers that followed her as everyone saw that there was 2 babies strapped to her. Serena looked surprised and happy at the same time while Darien kept his face a mask of indifference.  
  
"Mother may we retire to your private rooms?" Rini asked, careful to speak in a courtly manner. Her mother nodded and she and the King stood and followed her out. When Serena and Darien stood so did the rest of the room, when the left, everyone bowed to their rulers. The sight almost made Rini laugh, but she held her face in a serene smile and kept walking.  
  
When they reached the reception chamber that her mother used to talk to family and close friends, Rini plopped carefully down on the couch and took her burdens from her back and chest. She took Ben out of the pouch and handed him to her mother and held Persephone herself. Darien sat down rather quickly in the chair opposite her while Serena sat down next to her daughter.  
  
"She had twins?" Serena asked, more of a spoken thought than a question. "I never thought that I would see the day another set of twins was born in a royal family." (FYI Queen Serenity's grandmother cast a spell on all the royal families that they would never have twins so that they wouldn't fight over the throne and kill their subjects.)  
  
"Well, it happened. Everything happens for a reason, mother." Rini said, surprising herself. She shrugged it off. Just then she heard a strange noise. Actually it was a bunch of different noises coming from the hallway. Suddenly five of the royal stable masters came barging into the room followed by the chambermaid and his daughter. They all started talking to the royal family at once, so quickly that they couldn't make out what they were all saying. Darien stood up so quickly that he almost knocked over his chair.  
  
"Quiet!" Darien's voice boomed over them all getting silence instantly. "One at a time." He said more quietly sitting back down in his chair.  
  
"Your Highness," Said Kevin, the head stable master, bowing.  
  
"This morning when I went out to the stables to start grooming the royal mounts as I do every morning, I heard a strange noise coming from the end 2 stalls." He paused to take a breath.  
  
"I was half way to the end of the row when they burst out of the stalls! They come runnin over to me and demand the best oats. They talked to me! I could hear them clear as a bell." He had to kneel just to keep from falling over. Then the chambermaid stepped forward. Tall and gray haired, Ann curtsied to her Queen and King then turned to Serena. She had always hated Darien, ever since Serena's mother, Serenity, pronounced them betrothed.  
  
"My Queen, when I went into the Princesses rooms just now to clean, there they were! Just lying on the good rugs just like they belonged there. It is preposterous!" Everyone started talking at once again. The twins started to cry again. When the sound reached the crowd's ears they slowly stopped yelling and quieted down all together. They stared at the sight of 2 babies. One of the pages that had escorted the mob to the room broke the silence first.  
  
"I had heard that there were 2, but I didn't believe it. 'Royals can't have twins' said i. Boy was I wrong." He said with a slight blush. Rini smiled at him, BJ smiled back. He was tall and squarely built with hair the color of rich dirt. And his eyes were the color of chocolate moose. His freckles stood out on his paleish skin. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. {I can't be in love with him. He is the Prince of Draco, but mother would never approve of it.} With a sigh she stood, and put Persephone in the carrier, took Ben form her mother and put him in the one that went across her back.  
  
"Let's go see what our loyal servants are telling tales about shall we. BJ, will you lead the way?" Rini said, smiling even wider. He gave her a deep bow and turned to lead them to her rooms. When they were far enough behind the mob so that they wouldn't be over heard, Serena grabbed her daughters arm.  
  
"Rini, I can see the way you 2 look at each other." She said, looking at her daughter with a smile as Rini blushed.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me you liked him? I would have done something about it." Rini smiled so big, Serena thought that her face was going to split. They walked on in silence. When they reached to Rini's door, everyone waited out side while Serena, Darien and Rini went in to see just what had cause their servitors to go into alarm. Darien insisted on going in first incase they were dangerous. When he was inside the door, he stopped and froze, blocking Rini and Serena's way. They tried to see around him but he was quite a bit larger than they were and thus blocking their view completely. They tried talking to him and yelling at him, but he just stood there. Finally Rini got annoyed and yelled at him mentally. That worked he jumped lie a frightened child them stepped out of the way.  
  
Lying on the rung in the sun under her largest window were two unicorns, one black and one white. Their horns shone and sparkled while their coats glistened in the sunlight. Rini gasped aloud as they looked up at her. She could have sworn that they smiled at her. They both stood up and walked over to her. All she could do was stand there and watch as they walked right over to her.  
  
:Hello Rini, I am Artimus and this is my brother Aries.: Came a strong female voice that was very unfamiliar. She looked at the white unicorn, which had moved to look her in the face. {Oh.}  
  
:Hello Artimus. Why have you come here? And why are you in my room?: Rini asked placing her hands on her hips. She heard her mother take a few steps closer.  
  
"Mother, this is Artimus and Aries." She said indicating the two in front her. She turned and saw Serena nod slightly. She turned back to the beautiful beasts that had only been heard of in fairy tales.  
  
:We are Persephone and Benjamin's bond-animals.: Rini nodded. She had remembered Degen's trinket that he had given her right before he and Gaea had given up their flesh bodies to save to everyone. She decided that it would be better to start speaking out loud form now on, even if no one else could hear the response she got.  
  
"Very well," she said. "I have been expecting something like this for a while. Let me handle things." Rini said, turning around to face the crowd that had gathered behind the King and Queen, all crammed inside the doorway.  
  
"Kevin, make sure that Artimus and Aries get the best stalls and best food. They are going to be permanent guests. They are Persephone and Ben's bond- animals. So treat them with the respect they deserve." Rini turned back to look at the 2 and she got a nod of approval from both of them. 


	4. The Eyes

Chapter 3  
  
~The Eyes~  
  
*16 years later, Persephone and Ben have developed their gifts of mindspeech and frequently visit their parents in the Sky Kingdom on the Starry Path. Persephone has her mother's gifts for empathy and Elemental magic and had fully developed them by the age of 11. She's only a master, but she is a talented master and uses her powers with knowledge beyond her years. She trains new military recruit's self defense and weaponry. Ben took after Rini and was given charge of border defenses. They go riding on their bonded unicorns almost every night to se their parents around sunset. All has been peaceful with no sign of the Dark One until the day before their 16th birthday. Things begin to seem unbalanced and strange things start happening…*  
  
"Rini, we're going riding! We'll see you after dark." Ben called to his foster mother as he followed his twin sister out of Rini's chamber where they had eaten a quiet dinner with her to plan their 16th birthday celebration the next day.  
  
"Have fun you two." Rini called back, they were already running down the hall trying to beat each other to the stables. They were always trying to best each other at everything. Rini smiled and piled up the dishes then went to take a shower before finishing the preparations for the following day. She loved her foster children like they were her own, and she would go to the ends of the Earth for them and she would d anything to make them see that.  
  
By the time Ben reached the stables, Persephone was already mounted and waiting with Aries saddled and waiting for him. He ran and mounted with a feigned ease. Persephone shook her head.  
  
"Beat that one Sephy." Ben said with cockiness dripping from every word. Persephone rolled her eyes and rode a head of him to spare herself from his enlarged ego.  
  
They rose to a little creek away from the palace where they would ride on the Starry Path to see their parents. When they reached it, they dismounted and let Artimus and Aries drink their fill of water. Persephone looked out over the meadow beyond and watched to colors of the sky sluggishly change. Suddenly, out of no where, she felt something cold, dark and lusting for vengeance pass over them with piercing eyes and prying senses. She felt frozen in its darkness as if she were the only one in this strange place that was as cold as the harsh winter storms. Then, as suddenly as it had come, it was gone. She had to quickly sit down to keep from falling down and hurting her self. All she could do was shake from shock. She felt a warm brotherly hand on her shoulder and se saw Ben squatting in front of her, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her as if to wake her from this nightmare. She blinked several times before she could comprehend what her was saying and respond.  
  
"Are you alright? I felt it to, what was it?" She could see clearly once again and noticed that Aries was at her back and Artimus was practically on top of her, protecting her form their unseen enemy.  
  
"Yes I'm alright." She said as she felt the ground firm under her rear-end. She closed her eyes and concentrated her mind on the grass underneath her. When she opened her eyes she smiled feeling completely herself again, minus the terrible sense of dread.  
  
"I'm not sure what that was, we'd better get to mom and dad. They'll know." She took Ben's stable, out stretched hand and got up. He mounted and started off at a trot. He turned to look at her, she was still standing right where he left her next to Artimus.  
  
"Are you coming?" He said. He could tell that she was mindspeaking Artimus. He thought he saw her smile wildly as Artimus started to walk away from her. He sat there and stared at the two of them. He felt Aries shift his weight under him.  
  
:What do you suppose our sisters are up to?: Aries said, their curiosity grew every passing second. Finally, when Artimus was nearly to them, Persephone started to sprint towards them. Ben cocked his head to the side considering them. Right as Persephone was about to run Artimus over, she jumped and did a front handspring onto Artimus's rump and landed lightly in the saddle, al while Artimus was still walking. They continued on past them as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. They stopped a few feet in front of them.  
  
"Well, are you coming? Mon and Dad are going to worry, I told them that we were coming tonight." She could tell that Ben and Aries both were trying very hard to stay standing. She turned Artimus around and started on the stardust path that appeared in front of her at her bidding.  
  
:I told you it would be good.: She said to Artimus, just as cocky as her brother had been a while ago. She felt her bonded laugh. 


	5. Strange Soldiers

Chapter 4  
  
~Strange Soldiers~  
  
  
  
:We did indeed see the darkness.: Degen said while playing with Solanara, teasing her tail feathers while she snapped playfully at his fingers. Gaea nodded and leaned back against Athena's soft stomach and absently fingered the silver tip of the tail. Persephone and Ben lounged against Artimus and Aries.  
  
:What should we do. It felt so cold and blood thirsty. I think that something bad is going to happen and soon.: Persephone said, she could still feel the malice hanging in the air, even up here. She shuddered and she saw her mother do the same. Over the years she had come to love her mother as a friend more than a mother. Rini would always be her mother even though Rini and Gaea were the same age and even looked similar. No one in the court that didn't know about Sephy and Ben's true parentage ever thought anything askew for hey both looked a bit like Rini, enough so that they could sometimes trick people into think them twins. Sephy smiled, she loved it when she and her Rini did stuff together, almost as much as when she visited her mother. {Soon,} she thought. {Soon I will be joining Mother and Father here in the sky kingdom, I can feel it.} This made her shiver again, she felt herself grow distant and thin. {Crap!} This only happened when she was leaving the Starry Path and felt the opposite when entering. She closed her eyes and brought what little bits of her conscience that had drifted away, back.  
  
:Are you ok Sephy?: Degen asked.  
  
:Yes, I'm fine. I really need to get back home. Ben let's go.: She said as she rose from her place by her mother's side. Gaea and Athena rose with her and Artimus and she grabbed her arm. Athena spoke urgently with Artimus.  
  
:What is going on?: She asked, mindspeaking only to her.  
  
:Rini called out to Sephy and said something about strange people at the palace. It sounded urgent and she didn't want to alarm Gaea and Degen. My brother over heard our conversation with the Princess and told Ben. We've got to go.: She said and turned on her heals (all four) so that Persephone could mount. Ben was already mounted and walking away from his parents.  
  
:Bye Mother, I love you. I'll be back soon. Come to me tonight and I'll tell you everything.: She said after she was sitting atop Artimus. She waved and trotted off to catch up to her brother.  
  
:I love you baby, you to Ben. Happy Birthday you two!: She yelled as best one could when mindspeaking. She smiled and walked back to where Degen was standing, waiting for her. He wrapped one strong arm around her as she leaned against his sturdy chest. She felt safe there standing next to her life-bonded lover. She decided to open up her bond with Rini and use her empathy to try to figure out what was up. All she had to do was think of her blood-bonded friend to sense her feelings. She and Rini's friendship- bond was as strong as her and Degen's life-bond was, so opening up her gift to her was as easy as talking to someone that was right next to her.  
  
What she felt was curiosity, fear and confusion. {Damn it Rini…I need more than that to figure out what's happening!} She decided to leave it at that even though she knew that her curiosity and concern would eat away at her. {Oh well, I'll visit them tonight and get the whole scoop. What I need is a distraction.} Athena nodded following her bonded's thoughts. She knew what to do.  
  
:Gaea, you and Degen haven't been down to Amitie in a while. Why don't you two go make a visit? I'm sure the Earth misses you.: She saw Gaea smile and patted her husbands arm. He looked at her and shrugged.  
  
:Whatever you want sweetheart. You're the Queen.: she laughed and turned into his arms and kissed him.  
  
:Yes, and you my dear, are my brave King. The King who captured my heart and still holds it hostage.: She gave him one of those smooth smiles that meant that they were probably going to be spending the rest of the evening in their bed room fighting passionately under their sheets.  
  
"What's all this?"  
  
Ben said as they raced inside to the main audience chamber off the Great Hall where Rini had told them to meet her. Ann met them at the entrance door to the Great Hall and bustled them into the room and up to the front to stand behind their adoptive mother. Rini turned and grabbed Persephone's hand. And signaled Ben to follow as she drug them away from the crowd.  
  
"Here's the scoop. Shortly after Mother and Father had finished eating and were listening to the musicians and waiting for their food to digest when out of no where, those two pop in." She said pointing to two women of about Ben and Persephone's age. They were dressed in two different outfits. The one who was more hard muscled had a tattoo of a red dragon on her upper left arm and wore a top that that was made out of a midnight blue cotton fabric and cut short just below where her underwire on her bra would be exposing her abdominals. Her skirt sat low on her waist and on the right side it ended mid-thigh with a small silver moon hanging, it then slanted down to the left ending at her knee with a small star dangling. The formfitting skirt had slits going up the sides ending 6 inches below the waist to allow her to move easily and be able to fight as she was obviously trained to do, with a sheer fabric that sparkled like the stars over both the top and the skirt. She looked like Persephone in the warrior way but dark and mysterious. The other was a little taller than the other and looked like a normal earthling female with blond hair that fell chin length and eyes so brilliantly green that they looked like round blades of grass. She wore a suit that looked very similar to the one that the Senshi of the inner 4 planets wore.  
  
As Persephone looked back at her mother who was still talking, Ben was lost in the silvery-blue pools that graced the slender face of the shorter one. Her raven black hair was pulled back in a French-braid that would have ended at her waist had she not had it wrapped around in an elaborate bun at the nape of her neck. Her red lips seemed beckoned to his to caress them with his own…  
  
"Ben! Have you been listening?! This is important!" Rini said just a little frustrated at her son's lack of a long attentions span.  
  
"No mother, I'm sorry." He said looking at the ground to keep from seeing the anger in her eyes. Rini sighed and repeated what she had just said to her daughter.  
  
"The Tall bland one is Lorelei Annalise, (Thank you to Erin for this character!) ruler of the Eclipse. Also know as Sailor Eclipse. The shorter one is Princess Talleah (Happy Britt?) of Draco. Also know as Sailor Night. They claim to know something about the incident that occurred earlier tonight."  
  
"Ah, I wondered of it was just Ben, Gaea, Degen and I who had felt that." Persephone said thoughtfully, clearly thinking over something. {Talleah…pretty name for one who's so mysterious. Ben thought. She looks like she'd be good in be…}  
  
:Ben!: Persephone mentally whispered hastily as she was being lead to the front of the crowd by Rini. He took the hint and followed close behind his twin. Soon they were standing directly in front of the two strangers. They recognized their rank with curt nods in their direction as they couldn't curtsey in such short skirts or bow with the low-cut of their tops. They nodded back in recognition. Ben wanted to do more than simply nod, but he put all those type of thoughts away when Serena (Now in this type of situation being called Serenity as tradition demanded.) began to speak to everyone that had crowded into the room.  
  
"Everyone! The Dark One has returned to avenge its destruction 17 years ago. It has it's eyes on us and will, someday soon, come to us and attempt to defeat us as it would have if it wasn't for Queen Gaea and King Degen of the Sky and Amitie." At that, it seemed that every person in the room, even the two new comers, looked upon Persephone and Ben as if they were the spinning images of their parents. Well, actually, they were. Serena began to speak again.  
  
"We will, with the aide of our new allies from the kingdoms of Draco and Neo, defeat our Dark enemy once and for all. They have magics that we do not. They have dealt with this type of Spirit before and know just how it will react and what it will do. Trust them as you would trust me. They serve the Elements of the Light just like all the rest of us do. I call a full council of war to be held tomorrow morning." At the last comment the room erupted. There hadn't been a full council of war since Queen Serenity (Serena's mother) had been attacked by the Negaverse and drastic action was in need.  
  
:Grandma, is it as serious as all that?: Persephone asked Serena mentally so as not to question her in public and bring the Queen shame and dishonor.  
  
:Yes my dear, I'm afraid so.: She answered, all the time, they both kept calm faces and strong posture so as not lead on to their private conversation. That could lead to rumors that the rulers were unsure and therefore couldn't be counted on. That was definitely not what they needed. 


	6. The Conference

Chapter 5  
  
~Conference and Investigation~  
  
  
  
The noise in the room was enough to make anyone not trying to talk over it hard of hearing, but for those with mindspeech, it was deafening. Persephone had to invest all her concentration on her strengthening her shields on her gift of empathy. To her the room mentally felt like a tiny closet in which she had been trapped by fear, stress and tension, physically it was hot, stuffy and loud! Serena and Darien sat on the small raised platform at the back of the room in front of the windows that looked out into the royal gardens. A cool breeze came in through the opened stained glass windows reaching just short of where she was seated on Rini's left front, doing her little good. Traditionally, she would have sat behind her mother, but that law had been changed when assassins got to close for the rulers comfort. Darien stood and held up his hand flat for silence and got it almost immediately. He waited for all eyes to be on him before he spoke.  
  
"My fellow rulers, allies and subjects; you have been called her today under the gravest of circumstances. As you may know, a Council of War has not been called since my mother's time, thousands of years ago and only then had it been called under circumstances just as grave. Only 3 nights ago we were washed over with eyes of evil, evaluating our condition physically, mentally and militarily." He paused to let that sink in before moving on. The whispers started but were hushed when the parties received looks from the higher-ranking nobles.  
  
Amazingly, after the night that the wave of evil flooded over them, it had only taken all the allies only 3 days to arrive at the Moon Court. That, as far as she had learned, was the fastest ever that every single ally had come when called.  
  
"We must decide on a course of action immediately. This hidden enemy must be defeated before it defeats us." He concluded sitting back down as Serena stood up, not giving anyone a chance to even begin talking in between as people tended to do.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen; remember that this is no ordinary enemy that can be put in its place with a large, strong army and good weapons. This is an enemy that hides in the shadows of evil and feeds off the blood and death of innocents. I would like to introduce Lady Lorelei Annalise ruler over the Eclipse and Lady Talleah of Draco, in which we have allied ourselves with. They know more on the subject of the incident and will fill you in." She sat down in her seat and the whispers started, but this time no one made an effort to stop them. The room sounded like a beehive. After a moment had passed, Serena motioned Talleah and Lorelei up to the front of the platform. They didn't need to call for silence for by the time they reached the platform and were ready to speak, they had everyone's undivided attention, especially Ben's. Persephone turned to where her twin was seated on Rini's right. {This is strange. My empathetic perception never feels like this unless I'm with mother and father. What does all this mean coming from him? I'll have to ask Carra tonight when I scry.} She made a mental note to do just that and turned back to where the two ladies were speaking.  
  
Persephone had heard all the details the morning after Talleah and Lorelei had arrived so she went into a light trance and let her father hear what they were saying. Gaea was listening through Rini since they shared the blood-friend bond, it was easier to "hear" then through Persephone or Ben.  
  
When is was finally over and all but the rulers themselves had gone, Persephone rose to get out of the way of the servants. They had to convert the audience chamber into a war room with large tables that would hold all the current maps the palace possessed. Planning for war must begin now and she was ready for it. People of power roamed around the palace talking to one another about this or that, catching up with other. She let her mind wander and let her feet talk her where they willed. {That was really strange. That feeling was so strong, that feeling only comes when mom and dad are together in each other's arms. Maybe I should talk to mom about this. It came from Talleah and Ben, could they be…no, that's silly…but is it? They could be…but…no. This is way too weird.}  
  
:Dearest, it's not that weird. Your mother and father met and in that instant they knew that they were life-bonded. It's not really that far fetched.: Artimus spoke up after barely speaking all morning. Persephone thought back to the stories that her parents had told her about how they met and nodded which Artimus felt mentally.  
  
:I suppose your right, but Mother never mentioned it feeling this strong and she was the one who was actually feeling it, not picking it up as I did. Maybe I should talk to Mother now.: Persephone said, her mind was working like a mouse trying to find it's way through a maze to get to the cheese.  
  
:If it will make you feel better.: Artimus sighed.  
  
:Yes.: Persephone's mind was still hard at work.  
  
:Then I shall tell Kevin to get me saddled. Come on down to the stables and we'll go together.: She said with a hint of command in her mindvoice. Persephone gave her a mental nod and her feet took her out the main doors that led to the public gardens and on to the stables. {I can't help but to worry about this. There was something else there, something that I can't explain. Behind the over powering life-bond there was a emotion that I can't explain, a need beyond all needs…like a purpose.} She could feel Artimus nod curiously as she followed her train of thought. 


End file.
